Russia concerned over reports on use of chemical weapons by Syrian militant

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MOSCOW, Oct. 30-- Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it was alarmed by reports about new cases concerning the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

"That information needs a thorough verification and investigation. Still we once again remind that the unanimously adopted UN Security Council resolution 2118 puts special responsibility on Syria's neighboring countries for prevention of chemical weapons falling into the arms of non-state subjects," the ministry said in a statement.

Syrian militants reportedly shelled Kurdish outposts in Syria's northeastern city of Al-Hasakah, in the Ras Al-Ayn region near the country's border with Turkey, said reports broadcast by a Lebanese television service earlier Wednesday.

The ministry stressed that Kurdish militia successfully defended the areas populated by the ethnic group against Islamists attacks and managed to cut off channels of illegal oil supply from Syria used by the insurgents.

The jihadists, who were unable to defeat the Kurds in an open combat, on Tuesday fired chemical weapons against them, the ministry alleged in the statement.

According to the statement, the Syrian government has been cooperating with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in scrapping its chemical weapons and OPCW inspectors in Syria had checked 21 out of 23 sites declared by Damascus, the Syrian capital, to be part of its poison gas and nerve agent program as of Tuesday.